Fantastic post. I highly encourage people to click on each link in turn.
This is a fabulous post, deserving to be quoted in its entirety. Thank you for taking the time to compose it. I’ve never been a big Mondrian fan, but now I understand him a bit more. Thank you.
I agree with these. That tree progression is fantastic (and is a great argument for allowing inline images here). I have a new appreciation for Mondrian. Thanks.
I agree. Fabulous post, ZebraShaSha.
I enjoy any painting that can make me think, give me insight, trigger an emotion, or illustrate something I haven’t seen before. Abstract art, impressionism, or realism - it doesn’t really matter.
The ‘value’ of a painting is another issue entirely, that can be separated from the criticism of modern art or any other kind of art. We just have to accept that a lot of the value of an artwork is tied up in its history, scarcity, and proven ability to appreciate in value over time. After all, many people consider expensive art to be an investment.
The value has nothing to do with the physical effort or time it took to create the art. A photograph takes almost no effort at all - twist a few dials and push a button. The value comes completely from the eye of the artist. Sometimes the setup for a photo can be extremely elaborate and take days or weeks, but the creation of the actual photo takes no time at all. Likewise, a Rothko or Mondrian may just look like a few lines of paint, but you didn’t see what it took to get there - and it doesn’t really matter.
There is only a small correlation between the ‘quality’ of an art work and its price. Go check out the various art forums on the internet, and you will find hundreds of artists whose work is jaw-droppingly good. Likewise, a half an hour on youtube will disabuse you of the notion that the best singers and musicians make the most money.
The art world is very insular. Many famous artists went to famous art schools with other famous artists. In the modern world, art councils that determine what is and isn’t great art are often made up of the very artists that were standing in front of such a council just a few years earlier. And after the stint on the council, they’ll go back and make art and present it for judgment to the people who they had supported. Often these people are closely connected with high society, the New York art world, influential people in finance and government, etc. They are where the money and power is, and it’s a closed world.
This isn’t universally true, and independent artists can still break through and join the top tier. But just as in the music world or in acting, the ultimate value of what you produce is often more about who you know or whether you were lucky enough to attract the attention of someone powerful enough to give you standing, finance a show, etc. That doesn’t mean such art is worthless, or even that it’s not great. It just means that equivalently good or great art may have only a fraction of its value simply because it couldn’t find traction in a very specific and small marketplace.
I can agree whole-heartedly that minimalist artwork can be very deep and meaningful, but it’s still not worth millions of dollars.
I still think a lot of it is bluster, exclusivity and chest-puffing for rich socialites. It is the sophisticated version of “I have a brand new Corvette”. This version is more like “I have a limited edition 1964 1/2 Corvette that is only one of five with radio-delete and was custom painted for sultan Ali baba etc. etc.” The exclusivity and pretentiousness just grow and feed on each other until it reaches an insane and disgusting level of ridiculousness.
Perhaps a more apt comparison would be to the “toddler wars” some parents put themselves through. There comes a growing pissing contest between parents over which child is spoiled more, has the best tech, is the smartest, fastest, most popular, fashionable, etc. Meanwhile, the toddlers in question would be just as happy to sit in the sandbox shoveling sand and being toddlers.
In other words, simple art (like children) can be a wonder to behold, but there’s no need to be a pretentious dick about it.
Seeing this makes me wonder three things right off the bat: which particular works of minimalist art, how much are they actually worth, and who determines this?